Herbert Smith has stepped up its global recruitment programme with the hire of 20 trainee lawyers from India.

The move comes as the firm completes its pilot recruitment programme for Indian law graduates, which saw six such graduates take up summer internships at the firm in April.

“We’ve decided to make annual recruitment trips to India, starting this year,” said graduate recruitment partner and India group chair Chris Parsons.

Parsons, along with corporate partner Alan Montgomery, made 10 offers to graduates in Kolkata and Jodhpur last month and another 10 in a second trip to Bangalore and Hyderabad earlier this month.

“We wanted to recruit people from different regions,” Parsons said, adding that India’s increasing global presence and its common law system made it easy to recruit Indian law graduates.

Herbert Smith recruits approximately 130 vacation scheme students and 105 trainees per year.